![“[Building nerf blasters] became this outlet of creativity for me that hasn't been matched by anything else. The process [of] making a build complete to your desire is such a painstakingly difficult process, but I've had to learn from [the skills needed from] soldering to proper painting. There's so many different options for everything, if you think about it, it exists. The best part is [that] if it doesn't exist, you can build it yourself," Ishaan Parate said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/DSC_8149-900x604.jpg)
![“When I came into high school, I was ready to be a follower. But DECA was a game changer for me. It helped me overcome my fear of public speaking, and it's played such a major role in who I've become today. To be able to successfully lead a chapter of 150 students, an officer team and be one of the upperclassmen I once really admired is something I'm [really] proud of,” Anvitha Tummala ('21) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-25-at-9.50.05-AM-900x594.png)
![“I think getting up in the morning and having a sense of purpose [is exciting]. I think without a certain amount of drive, life is kind of obsolete and mundane, and I think having that every single day is what makes each day unique and kind of makes life exciting,” Neymika Jain (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-4.54.16-PM.png)
![“My slogan is ‘slow feet, don’t eat, and I’m hungry.’ You need to run fast to get where you are–you aren't going to get those championships if you aren't fast,” Angel Cervantes (12) said. “I want to do well in school on my tests and in track and win championships for my team. I live by that, [and] I can do that anywhere: in the classroom or on the field.”](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/DSC5146-900x601.jpg)
![“[Volleyball has] taught me how to fall correctly, and another thing it taught is that you don’t have to be the best at something to be good at it. If you just hit the ball in a smart way, then it still scores points and you’re good at it. You could be a background player and still make a much bigger impact on the team than you would think,” Anya Gert (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AnnaGert_JinTuan_HoHPhotoEdited-600x900.jpeg)
![“I'm not nearly there yet, but [my confidence has] definitely been getting better since I was pretty shy and timid coming into Harker my freshman year. I know that there's a lot of people that are really confident in what they do, and I really admire them. Everyone's so driven and that has really pushed me to kind of try to find my own place in high school and be more confident,” Alyssa Huang (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AlyssaHuang_EmilyChen_HoHPhoto-900x749.jpeg)
Breakthrough Prize winners win $3 million on Sunday night
Winners of the twelve Breakthrough Prizes received $3 million on Nov. 9, according to Reuters, to honor their work in mathematics and science. Founders of the Prizes included Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin and Jack Ma. Five awards went to mathematicians, and seven went to scientists, as reported by The New York Times.
Simon Donaldson, Maxim Kontsevich, Jacob Lurie, Terence Tao, Richard Lurie and Richard Taylor earned the prizes for their efforts in a variety of fields of mathematics, such as Taylor’s in completing Fermat’s Last Theorem or Lurie’s in providing the foundation of higher category theory.
Six scientists, Drs. Charles David Allis, Alim Louis Benabid, Emanuelle Charpentier, Jennifer Doudna, Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun, earned prizes for their achievements in life science. Dr. Ambros and Dr. Ruvkun discovered microRNA and their effect on the larger RNA molecules. The other scientists focussed on disease prevention and immunity. Dr. Allis explored how chromatin affects the expression of genes. Dr. Benabid found surgical methods to send electrical impulses to the brain and lessen the effects of Parkinson’s disease. Drs. Doudna and Charpentier demonstrated an application of a protein that eliminates invasive DNA.
The final reward was known as the Fundamental Physics Prize. It went to two teams of astronomers who had already received the Nobel Prize, Shaw Prize and other honors. They discovered that the rate of expansion of the universe was continually accelerating due to “dark energy”.
In the fields of mathematics and science, much remains to be explored. Rishi Maheshwari (10) felt the scientists deserve the recognition.
“I think that science prizes should be honored more often because they actually advance society and create more for us, compared to sports rewards that are purely for entertainment,” Rishi said.
Woody Ye (10) expressed that scientific acknowledgements such as this were not so different from the arts.
“I don’t think they’re that much more important,” Woody said. “Aesthetics and arts, things like musical aspects of art contribute to human society too. Our society needs diversity. Not just sciences and maths, but culture.”
A committee of previous winners will decide the recipients of the award. In the future, Breakthrough Prizes will be rewarded to one mathematician a year.
Vijay Bharadwaj (11) is one of the opinion editors for The Winged Post and Aquila. She served as the assistant opinion editor and the Wingspan copy editor...
Praveen Batra (9) is a reporter for the Winged Post. He enjoys informative writing, design, and typography. In his spare time, he likes to write mobile...